X-MEN: Retribution
by lKyarei
Summary: "Does it ever wake you in the middle of the night? The feeling that one day, they'll come for you? And your children?" That fear has plagued Charles Xavier since the events of Cairo, and the revelations of the clean up of the Weapon X facility. The next challenge confronts the X-MEN as something sinister approaches... POST Apocalypse. SPOILERS for: FC, DOFP, Apocalypse.
1. Chapter 1

**WARNING: SPOILERS FOR FIRST CLASS, DOFP AND APOCALYPSE.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own X-men. All characters and rights belong to Marvel.**

Brief introduction:

I am a first-time fanfiction writer, and was inspired to write this after Apocalypse. I enjoy the character dynamics, and feel that the latest three films have helped create interesting opportunities for character development. I appreciate any feedback to help me improve my writing, and do intend to update this when I can.

Kyarei x

" **At the end of the day, all you need is hope and strength. Hope that it will get better; the strength to hold on until it does."**

 **Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters – Entrance**

A glorious summer's day was underway as Moira McTaggart made her way up to the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters; and as she passed the gates she felt a weight lift of her mind. The events of the past few months felt like they were a distant nightmare and the plague that had devastated the rest of the world, appeared to have not tampered with the institute before her. Her eyes flickered to the large grounds as she heard the laughter and giggles of children playing sports, chatting, frolicking, enjoying the day. The stark comparison of the external structures, towns, homes, lives around the world that were struggling to return to normality struck her. The actions of Apocalypse and his horseman had certainly been detrimental to the progress of human/mutant relations. The hope and inspiration that Raven had given both species after she prevented the assassination of the President; felt more like a fairy tale. Now, the anger and desire for revenge has fuelled both riots on a public and political level; with demands for mutant registration being a daily occurrence.

As she drew closer to the front doors of the institute, she tried to shake off the morbid thoughts of what had happened, and focus on the serious purpose of her visit. Upon knocking on the grand oak doors, she barely had time to blink before the doors were opened before her revealing Peter Magnus looking in a bag, whipping out a folder and flicking through it faster than she could keep up with.

Startled and disbelieving, Moira spluttered out: "Peter? What're you-? Hey that's my bag, and that file is classified!"

The young man before her chuckled, handing her things back and retorting: " I knew hanging about here would keep things interesting. Nice to see you, the Professor is in his study doing his professoryness stuff I guess. Suppose I better try and beat my high score in Pacman before things get serious."

She blinked and he was gone. Sighing she made her way through her way through the school. She passed room after room filled with students; some silent as they completed their work, some captivated in debate, some being scolded for chatting away. She marvelled in the innocent nature of children, unaware of the chaos outside of these walls. As she ended the hallway, she approached double oak doors as a welcome voice echoed within her head: _"Come in Moira."_

She entered the warm room, lined with books from the owner's long career in education as both a student and now as a mentor himself. In the corner were leather brown couches, surrounding a coffee table which was littered with books and loose sheets of paper. A heartfelt chuckle came from behind the office desk before her. "Yes, my apologies for the mess; I have been busy of late. It is lovely to see you again; how have you been?"

Following Charles reveal after they had finally stopped Apocalypse, Moira found she was incapable of looking at him without feeling butterflies in her stomach and a very obvious blush coating her cheeks. Flashbacks of returned memories came to mind again as she saw him for the first time since that day in Cairo. Sun, sea, sand, ships, missiles, shouting, screaming, blood, a kiss. She found herself staring at the man that she once felt a great attraction towards. She appreciated how much he had changed since Cuba; his head once covered in long locks now completely bald after his encounter with Apocalypse. His once more casual attire, now replaced by the style suiting a professor; a blue suit, white shirt and silver tie. A welcoming smile a prominent feature of his face; but eyes darker and heavier than they should be for a man of his age betrayed his real feelings. The smile did not last long as she noticed a look of concern overcome him. These thoughts were interrupted by Charles reminding her that she was not alone.

"Moira, are you alright? Would you like to sit down?" he asked with concern.

"Sorry Charles, I'm fine. I've got news about the facility in Canada where Raven, Hank, Peter and I were held captive," Moira adopted a serious tone to distract her from the thoughts of Cuba.

Moira removed the file from her bag and placed it on Charles' desk for him to view. There were images of the facilities corridors that were blood speckled, but without the sources of said blood. Other images littered the desk of what appeared to be a cage coated in groups of knife marks; that looked more like the work of a beast than man. More images of a metal container filled with whatever; hanging above this were tubing and wires with syringes and attachments coming from them.

"Upon return to the CIA after Cairo, I informed them about the facility after my concerns over what may have been happening there. However, I think we were betrayed and they had a chance to clean over the site before we arrived."

"Any leads as to whom? Or what the true intention of the site was?" enquired Charles, looking as troubled as Moira.

"We don't know who is behind it I'm afraid. As for the facility's purpose, we're unsure. We found tools of torture, chemical and biological laboratories…." She trailed off slightly "But even more concerning than this; we found a suspicious looking X-ray of an arm which to our specialists looked like there had been a metallic graft placed upon the bones, labelled 'Weapon X'."

Charles eyes widened in shock "Sounds like an intense procedure – wonder if the unlucky individual survived…"

"We don't know Charles, but we will look into it and I'll get back to you," concluded Moira as she gathered the file and placed it back into her bag, straightened her suit jacket back out in preparation to leave. Charles struggled to hide the disappointment from his face as she made to leave so soon, but elected to respect her decision. His guilt at invading her mind, taking her memories before and judging her best interests for her still hurt him and he swore never to influence her again. " _You're weak Charles…_ " hissed a familiar raspy voice; Charles mentally berated himself for not controlling his powers better and shook his head slightly.

Moira sighed before leaving, with one last glance at Charles and a slight smile. She struggled to verbalise her forgiveness or feelings for him; but after her brief visit she felt perhaps her feelings were unreciprocated.

Charles wheeled himself over to the window to watch her drive away; thoughts of what he should have said or should've done tortured him. Moira had more than disappeared off in the distance, when the school bell rang and shocked Charles out of his thoughts.

" _X-men, can I see you all in my office please,"_ Charles telepathically sent out to his team; he thought it best to keep them informed. He rubbed his forehead with his fingertips to try and ease the headache which had been plaguing him more and more often lately. He could not allow himself to be weak; his team needed him. The world was in chaos, humans vs mutants. People needed mutants to be strong for each other; set a good example and demonstrate to the world that mutants have morally just and reprehensible people just like humans.

He needed to be strong; he had failed his friends too many times. Erik. Moira. Darwin. Sean. Angel. Raven. Hank. Alex. Jean. Scott.

Never again.


	2. Chapter 2

**WARNING: SPOILERS FOR FIRST CLASS, DOFP AND APOCALYPSE.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own X-men. All characters and rights belong to Marvel.**

Thank you to everyone who has provided support to this story so far. I really appreciate it. I like to take my time to set stories up and develop my characters as effectively as I can.

Just encase people are wondering, I do intend to update and finish this story when I can. I am a postgraduate student so sometimes life can get hectic with work and studying requirements. Thank you for your patience.

Kyarei x

" **The strongest people are not those who show in front of us but those who win battles we know nothing about."**

 **Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters – Raven's bedroom**

The mansion was still and silent as the school students and teachers a like soundly asleep. Raven stood in her suite bathroom combing her amber hair before she too joined the others in hopefully peaceful slumber. Blue scale like patterned flesh coated her body, covered up by a bathrobe for comfort. Piercing bright yellow eyes gazing absent minded in the mirror before her, as she brushed the same part of her hair multiple times. She like so many others after the apocalyptic events, has remained distracted. Her thoughts kept jumping to Erik; no one had seen him since that day in the danger room after he finished rebuilding the mansion. He had been keeping himself under the radar. Her thought process temporarily interrupted by a brief yawn as she headed back to her bedroom, removed her robe and slipped under the covers to make herself comfortable.

The world was literally falling apart around them and she could only focus on the suffering of her friend before her. She could not forget the agonised look on his face as she and Peter tried to talk him out of destroying the world and helping Apocalypse. The lines etched on his face. The redness taking over the whites of his eyes, highlighted by the dark shadows surrounding them.

Raven pleaded her case to him, to help reduce his suffering, "Erik, I know you've suffered. I know you've lost family. But you're not alone, you still have family, people who care for you and want to save you!"

Erik switched his gaze to Peter, "And you?"

Peter nervously stuttered, "I'm your s – I'm here to fight for my family too!"

She wished she could help relieve some of his pain by informing him that he still had some biological family left, to help fill that gap that Raven and Charles could not. But it was not her place to do so, it was Peter's decision and he appeared to be reluctant or nervous to do so. She wished she had the bravery to admit her own feelings for Erik over the years… Tiredness took over as sleep enveloped her.

Memories, voices and images flickered before her as she dreamed.

Her subconscious mind took her back to a happier memory in this room. Lying in this bed, trying to seduce Erik. She remembered her breath hitching, the blood rushing to her cheeks as he drew closer to her. The earthy scent. His eyes gazing intently into hers.

"You want society to accept you, but you can't even accept yourself. You don't have to hide. Have you ever looked at a tiger and thought you ought to cover it up? You are an exquisite creature, Raven. All your life the world has tried to tame you. It's time for you to be free," he stated softly, before kissing her.

A frown appeared on the shapeshifters face, as she saw Erik's eyes open and a dark look overcome them. The scene changed as the room become the boardroom from Paris, her ears were filled with screams, Erik stood before her with a gun aimed at her. Her breath hitched in her throat, her heart ached in the betrayal of him doing this to her.

"Securing our future. Forgive me, Mystique. As long as you're out there, we'll never be safe…" Erik continued to step towards her.

She remembered begging with Charles to stop him, who just looked at her frightened and stammered. Terrified, she got up and fled; but not long after she felt a burning pain in her leg as Erik directed the bullet into her leg.

She screamed in agony, with the pain causing her to wake up. But the pain was not in her leg; confusingly the pain erupted in her head. Raven sat bolt upright in her bed, clutching both sides of her head with her hands. Other screams and cried were echoing from beyond her closed bedroom door, as a sharp knock followed by Hank staggering into her room.

"Raven! You need to come. This is definitely worse than last time, I can't even reassure the children with this one," he panted heavily with effort, grimacing in pain.

Raven leapt out of bed, and headed down the corridor. She tried to reassure and comfort the children peering out their rooms down the corridor; some crying and others asking nervous questions. She heard running footsteps behind her, as she spun around she realised it was Jean and Scott.

"I figured you'd need some help with this one," Jean stated simply, as she followed Raven along the corridor.

It seemed the projections seemed to get more intense as they got closer to the source: Charles' bedroom. Whispering, tortured voices made up the underlying background of the projections. Every now and again Raven could make out more emphasised underlying statements, but most of them did not sound like English _. Control. Power. Strength._

They reached the desired door, they could hear whisperings come from within. Raven and the others gasped and doubled over clutching her head as the projections turned more immersive. A mirrored room, shattered and in pieces. She recognised the being before her as being Erik who was wearing his helmet and flight gear designed by Hank for Cuba. His gaze was so intense it felt like it was piercing right through her, before he spoke, "If you're in there, I'd like you to know that I agree with every word you said. We are the future. But unfortunately, you killed my mother. This is what we're going to do."

Raven felt the horror rise within her when she realised his intention. Erik levitated the metal coin he had been holding. She tried to move her legs to get away; but realised she could not move at all. "No! Please, Erik, no!" she tried to beg with him and realise she couldn't speak either.

"I am going to count to three and I'm going to move the coin," Erik continued, speaking slowly, taking his time, appearing to savour the moment, "One."

The metal coin was flying on its axis in her direction, level with her eyes. Raven felt her heart strain against her chest, all she could hear was her own heartbeat and deep breaths as time seemed to slow straight down as Erik counted to three.

"Two…" continued Erik as the coin flew even closer.

"Three…" he stated as the coin pierced her forehead and went right through. The pain was excruciating. She squeezed her eyes shut in agony. Her mind felt like it was set ablaze, like it had been pierced with a sharp poker. She felt herself screaming. Upon opening her eyes, she realised she was somewhere else. She was in the submarine, Moira was running up to her, trying to comfort her, "Are you alright Charles? What happened?"

Raven tried to regain control and fight off the projections as she burst open Charles' bedroom door and screamed, "THAT'S ENOUGH CHARLES!" She could barely hear herself over the telepathic screaming coming from the man before her. She staggered over to him, kneeling beside his bed to try and shake him awake. Pitch black eyes met her, a pained expression lay on his face. His lips were barely open as whisperings in a foreign language were escaping like lost breaths. Horrified at what lay before her, Raven turned to Jean who nodded in agreement and placed fingers at her temple and closed her eyes in preparation to soothe the troubled professor.

 **Charles' telepathic plain**

Jean found herself standing in a dark fog, chills were sent shivering down her spine as cries and screams echoed in the emptiness before her. She mentally called for a light source, and summoned a torch to her left hand. The beam of light cut through the fog before her like Scott's laser light; she continued in the path she started on. The cries and screams were getting louder, reassuring her that she was on the right path.

Suddenly, a hand reached out and touched her shoulder from behind. Spinning around, Jean readied herself to fight; but stopped upon seeing the face of Charles Xavier. Though he was not the professor she knew and respected, there was something in his eyes that did not ring true with her.

"Professor, come back to us please. We need you!" called Jean, trying to shake the professor from his nightmare. She projected pleasant memories to the professor: Charles warmly visiting Jean at her family home, reassuring her that she was not alone and that he could help her control and utilise her powers for good. Charles sitting with Jean in the mansion's library trying to educate her on meditation to regulate her powers. Jean, Scott, Kurt and Jubilee laughing in the courtyard of the mansion. Images of all the students and teachers he had recruited and helped flashed before him. Finally she noticed his eyes soften, lighten and his mouth gaped as if seeing her for the first time, "Jean..?"

She felt herself being drawn back into her own body as the professor woke up. The room felt deathly silent compared to the anguish and screams which had been echoing throughout the mansion shortly before. The professor sat bolt upright in his bed, breathing heavily, looking confused as to the gathering in his room before him. He turned his gaze enquiringly to Raven, who sighed and merely replied, "We need to talk, Charles."


End file.
